Senate Democrats Call for Housing Assistance for Families Displaced after Hurricane Maria

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) issued a letter to FEMA Administrator Brock Long calling on the agency to address the urgent housing needs of displaced families of Hurricane Maria by immediately entering into an interagency agreement with HUD to stand up the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP). In the letter, the senators warned that FEMA’s continued inaction on DHAP “is putting many of these families at risk of homelessness.”

The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition of more than 700 organizations has repeatedly urged FEMA to allow HUD to implement DHAP, which would provide direct rental assistance and case management services to help survivors get back on their feet. The senators state that FEMA’s refusal to use the tools at its disposal, including DHAP, is “puzzling – and profoundly troubling.”

Read the letter to FEMA at:  https://bit.ly/2qO6ntS